I saw a shadow on Tahquitz this week. It appeared suddenly when I heard a rumor about the ICRC prohibiting the children at Town Hall from using the new community playground.

I, as a stakeholder (literally since I paid for a commemorative fence stake) in the playground, am stunned. I worked several hours along with about 700 other volunteers to build the facility, not for the glory of the committee that organized the effort but for the benefit of the people of our town.

What I don’t understand is how a group, whose membership reportedly amounts to less than one-tenth (0.1) percent of the Hill’s full-time population, would restrict usage by youngsters, especially after about 20 percent of residents gathered in a good-intentioned effort to benefit all of Idyllwild and its neighbors.

I respect the right of a private organization to make rules over its own nonpublic assets, but wouldn’t it be fitting for the ICRC to welcome all children and their parents and caregivers to this community playground?

Barry Zander
Idyllwild